• If KiwiSaver can achieve closer to universal coverage, say 80 percent of the workforce and contributions move up to 10 percent, (5 percent from employees and matched 5 percent by employers) the KiwiSaver fund would grow from its current level of $13 billion today to $731 billion by 2066.

• The impacts on the economy for New Zealand would be substantial and include investment in new jobs, an improvement in worker productivity and wage rates, slightly lower interest rates and a more resilient economy during recessions.

• Those starting work today would also get twice the pensions they would be entitled to currently from just NZ Super when they finish their working careers. They would look forward to a comfortable lifestyle, compared to those retiring today.

• To reach the $731 billion goal new KiwiSaver enrolees would need to increase their contributions by 1 percent a year to reach a total of 10 percent. This is an extra half percent a year each from themselves and their employer, over 10 years from 2015 to 2024.

• Existing KiwiSaver members whose contributions currently average 5 percent of income rising to a minimum of 6 percent this year, would only need to increase contributions by 1 percent a year for four years to achieve a 10 percent contribution rate for the rest of their working years and reach the $731 billion goal.

• The average KiwiSaver contribution at 5 percent is well below other countries and way short of what is needed to provide people starting work today with a comfortable retirement income for their expected longer retirement.

• Australian employers, who currently pay 9 percent, will move up to 12 percent over the balance of this decade.

• Two million New Zealanders and some 50 percent of the workforce are currently signed up to KiwiSaver.

• Existing KiwiSaver funds are already creating a significant boost for younger New Zealanders purchasing their first home. In 2012 KiwiSaver funded deposits on 10,000 first homes, worthy around $3 billion.

• Money is being invested into fast-growing New Zealand businesses and helping those businesses maintain a New Zealand base and ownership.

• KiwiSaver is creating a cushion against future economic downturns by ensuring capital continues to flow into companies because the contributions don’t stop being invested in response to short-term events, such as a share market downturn.

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has funded the research to stimulate further discussion. It will test New Zealanders appetite for a universal KiwiSaver Plus savings scheme with market research.

New Zealanders’ poor savings record makes us dependent on overseas borrowing which in turn makes our economy more vulnerable.

This has been gradually changing over the past four years and we’re now saving more than we’re earning – just.

An increase in saving would be better for individuals and the economy but I’m wary of a move to compulsory saving.

Paying off a mortgage or investing in a business could well be a better financial option for some people than a compulsory savings scheme.

Anyone with a dairy farm could write a book about staff – the good, the bad; the helpful, the hopeless; the workers and the shirkers.

Dairy farm work isn’t for everyone. It requires early starts and long days but it does pay well and, through the sharemilking system can lead to farm ownership.

The large numbers of conversions to dairying in the southern South Island has created a lot of new jobs and in spite of the number of unemployed people it’s not always easy to find people willing and able to do them.

The solution is often overseas workers.

People question why foreigners should get work ahead of New Zealanders.

The answer is, just as some Kiwis are preferred to locals when they’re overseas, some foreign workers are better than the locals here.